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Council directs staff to draft amendment aligning 24‑hour parking rule with 72‑hour towing ordinance
Summary
Following discussion about enforcement, RVs and residents with no off‑street parking, the council directed staff to return with a code amendment to change the city's 24‑hour parking provision to match the 72‑hour towing rule and bring draft language back to a future meeting.
The Randolph City Council on Sept. 2 directed staff to prepare a code amendment to reconcile the city's 24‑hour consecutively parked vehicle rule with the 72‑hour towing authority so both time limits match. The move followed a multi‑member discussion about enforcement practicality, impacts on residents without off‑street parking, and recurring RV or vehicle‑habitation issues.
Chief Ortega, the city's police chief, told the council staff provided the applicable city code sections for 24‑hour parking and 72‑hour removal and described how the two rules operate in practice. "The 24 hour ordinance allows us to start the process and allows us to start communication with the vehicle owner," Ortega said. He explained the 24‑hour mark typically prompts staff contact or observation, while the 72‑hour rule is the legal threshold to remove a vehicle.
A council member proposed changing the 24‑hour restriction in city code section 13.13 to 72 hours to align enforcement and reduce inadvertent violations by residents who must park on city streets. Multiple council members supported the idea, noting that many older neighborhoods lack driveways or off‑street parking and that a 24‑hour rule can criminalize ordinary parking patterns.
Council members also discussed enforcement tradeoffs. Chief Ortega said the department encounters RVs or vehicle‑habitation cases regularly: "Every week," he said, when asked whether that is a recurring issue. Staff and council noted that the 24‑hour provision is a communication tool (to contact owners) and that removal requires the 72‑hour violation standard.
The council asked staff to draft a formal code amendment to change the 24‑hour consecutive parking standard to 72 hours and to return the amendment as a future agenda item for formal consideration. Staff indicated the change would be brought back as a code amendment for council action; no ordinance vote occurred Sept. 2.
Speakers during the discussion included Chief Ortega and multiple council members and a resident who described local driveway constraints. Staff also noted the city's 24‑hour rule dates to a 1947 ordinance, a historical detail offered during the discussion.
